3c Dull Red, Type II (11A). Margins to in, tied by grid cancel with tiny steamboat pictorial handstamp at upper left of Sep. 26, 1853 datelined folded letter to Newport R.I., with Atlantic Fire & Marine Insurance, Providence R.I. letterhead

VERY FINE. AN EXCEPTIONAL AND EXTREMELY RARE EXAMPLE OF THIS DIMINUTIVE STEAMBOAT PICTORIAL HANDSTAMP, FROM THE NARRAGANSETT BAY STEAMER PERRY.

This handstamp, which may well be the smallest steamboat marking in existence, is associated with the steamer Perry, which ran on the Narragansett Bay between Providence and Newport R.I. The steamer had several other slightly larger pictorial handstamps it used on covers and printed stationery. This is one of two examples of this style we have encountered and it is the listing example in Milgram. The other was in the Simmons collection (Sotheby Parke Bernet Sale 49, lot 1520).

Illustrated in Milgram's Vessel-Named Markings book (p. 561).

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